Flipped Classroom: implementation, teaching approaches, and challenges in music education

Abstract

The Flipped Classroom has been widely used to enrich teaching practices with digital tools at all levels of education, underlining the enhancement of students' learning implications and experiences. According to this blended learning teaching approach, a video or any other digital material is posted on a platform (Learning Management System) before the lesson. Students study the material in their time (pre-class phase), and in the class (in-class phase), queries are answered, and clarifications are given. Consequently, the majority of teaching time connects theory and practice and contains more creative and collaborative activities. Thus, students achieve learning outcomes that belong to lower Bloom taxonomy levels in pre-class, and during the in-class phase, they achieve learning outcomes such as applying, analysing, evaluating, and creating (higher levels). This symposium proposes implementations of the inverted classroom in Primary and Secondary Education in Greece and answers the following questions: a) Is the music lessons' content suitable for the flipped classroom application? b) What are the obstacles and limitations of this approach? c) To what extent does music instruction in class focus on the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy? d) How do pupils/students respond? Music teachers filled out an observation form based on the four pillars of the flipped classroom and reflective diaries and participated in semi-structured interviews before and after the implementation. As a result, the flipped classroom can be applied in Music lessons, demonstrating pupils/students' active participation; however, watching the educational material during the pre-class phase is very beneficial. In addition, it offers efficient time for music educators to deepen on various issues and include more creative activities in their lessons, which are based on analysis, creation, and evaluation. At the same time, it enhances students' interests and preferences and promotes participation and involvement in their learning process.

Full text

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Perakaki, E., Andreou, H., Kotsira, L., Tsitas, G., & Zepatou, Ch. (2023). Flipped Classroom:
implementation, teaching approaches, and challenges in music education. In Th. Raptis & E.
Perakaki (Eds), Music Education in a Changing World: Identities, Values, Experiences. 9th
Conference of the Greek Society for Music Education (pp. 483-496). GSME.
SYMPOSIUM V
Flipped Classroom:
implementation, teaching approaches, and challenges in music education
Elissavet Perakaki
Specialised Education Staff, Department of Music Studies, NKUA
eperak@music.uoa.gr
Helena Andreou
Senior education executive for music education
eandreou7@gmail.com
Lilly Kotsira
Elementary school music teacher
ekotsira@athenscollege.edu.gr
Georgios Tsitas
Secondary school music teacher
gdtsitas@yahoo.gr
Chrisanthi Zepatou
Elementary school music teacher
zepatos@yahoo.gr
Abstract
The Flipped Classroom has been widely used to enrich teaching practices with digital tools at all
levels of education, underlining the enhancement of students' learning implications and
experiences. According to this blended learning teaching approach, a video or any other digital
material is posted on a platform (Learning Management System) before the lesson. Students study
the material in their time (pre-class phase), and in the class (in-class phase), queries are
answered, and clarifications are given. Consequently, the majority of teaching time connects
theory and practice and contains more creative and collaborative activities. Thus, students
achieve learning outcomes that belong to lower Bloom taxonomy levels in pre-class, and during
the in-class phase, they achieve learning outcomes such as applying, analysing, evaluating, and
creating (higher levels). This symposium proposes implementations of the inverted classroom in
Primary and Secondary Education in Greece and answers the following questions: a) Is the music
lessons’ content suitable for the flipped classroom application? b) What are the obstacles and
limitations of this approach? c) To what extent does music instruction in class focus on the higher
levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? d) How do pupils/students respond? Music teachers filled out an
observation form based on the four pillars of the flipped classroom and reflective diaries and
participated in semi-structured interviews before and after the implementation. As a result, the
flipped classroom can be applied in Music lessons, demonstrating pupils/students' active
participation; however, watching the educational material during the pre-class phase is very
beneficial. In addition, it offers efficient time for music educators to deepen on various issues and
include more creative activities in their lessons, which are based on analysis, creation, and
evaluation. At the same time, it enhances students' interests and preferences and promotes
participation and involvement in their learning process.
Keywords: music education, blended learning, flipped classroom, Bloom’s taxonomy, self-
learning, creativity

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Nowadays, technical and theoretical innovations in educational science have
unlocked new paths (Goksu & Duran, 2020), using technological means to transmit
knowledge. Most students worldwide usually have 24/7 Internet access via PC, tablet,
and smartphone; at the same time, technology is getting easier accessible. A decade ago,
Roehl, Reddy, and Shannon (2013) underlined the urgency of adapting teaching tools to
capture and maintain students' attention. Santos and Serpa (2020) describe shortly the
most common teaching-learning process in the school culture, which is based on the
“presentation of the contents by the teacher, and implementation of these contents in a
very theoretical way” (p. 167). We can assume that this urgency was the main reason for
the popularity of the ideology of flipped learning at all levels of education over the past
few years. Some of the studies are in Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and
English. At the same time, there are few studies on flipped learning in Music (Akbel,
2018), especially in primary and secondary education. The symposium aims to put flipped
learning in Greek Primary and Secondary Education into practice, set the benefits and
difficulties of its implementation after quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and
arouse questions and reflections for further applications.
The roots of the flipped classroom
Students' motivation and active participation during a lesson is a topic of interest
for many teachers. As the primary tool for knowledge transmission, the lecture does not
gain students’ attention for a long time and does not maintain their attentiveness. Alison
King, associate professor of education in the College of Education at California State
University in San Marcos, underlined the importance of active learning in tertiary
education and the extension of the educator’s role from lecturer to facilitator and guide,
in her research “From Sage on the Stage to Guide on the Side” in 1993. She realises that:
In most college classrooms, the professor lectures, and the students listen and take
notes…In this view of teaching and learning, students are passive learners rather than active
ones. Such a view is outdated and will not be effective for the twenty-first century when
individuals will be expected to think for themselves, pose and solve complex problems,
and generally produce knowledge rather than reproduce it (King, 1993, p. 30).
She promoted active learning activities and techniques such as think-pair-share,
generating examples, concept mapping, problem posing, developing critiques and pair
summarising/checking to involve students in their learning, think for themselves,
cultivate their critical thinking, and produce the knowledge -rather than reproduce it.
According to Goksu and Duran (2020), this article set the foundation of the flipped
classroom. We find the term “flip” in Baker’s research “The “Classroom Flip”: using
web course management tools to become the guide by the side” (2000) for the first time
in the literature review. Teaching “Graphic design for interactive multimedia and
communication in the Information Age”, Prof. J. Wesley Baker at Cedarville University
(Ohio) realised that his students were unprepared for the class, and he felt unable to get
them to read the text and apply the content using active learning strategies. Under these
assumptions, he tried to use technology to present the lecture's content and involve
undergraduate students in active learning activities working in cooperation. Posting the
PowerPoint slides before the lesson, students had time to study at their own pace. The
changes in the classroom were based on the four concepts: “clarify, expand, apply,
practice” (Baker, 2000, pp. 13-14). In the classroom, he clarified and explained the topic,
and then the students were divided into small groups to implement and work on the new
knowledge. The research’s results stressed, among others, “the benefits of increased
interactivity and collaboration without sacrificing any content” (Baker, 2000, p. 16).

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Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams were the two chemistry teachers at Colorado
who implemented the flipped classroom in secondary education. In the book “Flip your
classroom: reach every student in every class every day”, released in 2012, they described
the reason for recording their lectures and how this idea transformed into a learning
model. Trying to find a solution for absent students to catch up on the lessons, Sams
…was thumbing through a technology magazine and showed Jonathan an article about
some software that would record a PowerPoint slide show, including voice and any
annotations, and then convert the recording into a video file that could be easily distributed
online. YouTube was just getting started, and the world of online video was in its infancy.
But as we discussed the potential of such software, we realised that this might be a way to
keep our students who missed class from missing out on learning (Bergmann & Sams,
2012, p. 3).
They started pre-recording all their lectures in the Spring of 2007, but Aaron
Sams observed that students needed the teacher’s presence when they had difficulties
during their practice. He then wondered: “What if we pre recorded all of our lectures,
students viewed the video as ‘homework,’ and then we used the entire class period to help
students with the concepts they do not understand?” (Bergmann & Sams, 2012, p. 5).
Since then, the number of research papers, which focus on flipped learning, the
importance of collaboration, students’ views, and the advantages and limitations of the
method has increased. This approach has been implemented in various cognitive subjects
in schools, such as Physics (Finkenberg, 2018), History (Makrodimos, Papadakis &
Koutsouba, 2017), Mathematics (Johnson, 2013; Makrodimos, Papadakis & Koutsouba,
2017), English Language (Schaffer, 2016), Geography (Makrodimos, Papadakis &
Koutsouba, 2017) English as a foreign language (Rigoutsou, 2018) and Music (Duker et
al., 2015; Gilbert, 2016; Nagy, 2017; Bernhofer & Wieland, 2018; Jia, 2019).
Defining the flipped classroom
In the literature review, the terms flipped classroom, inverted classroom, and
flipped learning refer to the same way of teaching. However, much research uses the term
flipped classroom to define it either as a methodology (Doi, 2016; Makrodimos,
Papadakis, Koutsoumpa, 2017), a teaching method (Bergmann & Sams, 2012; Jia, 2019),
a pedagogical approach (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2014; Doi, 2016; Goksu & Duran, 2020)
or instructional strategy (Johnson, 2013). The worldwide coalition “Flipped Learning
Global Initiative Network” with co-founder J. Bergmann, consisting of educators,
researchers, technologists, professional development providers and education leaders in
49 countries, takes into consideration the development and growth of flipped learning and
gives an international definition as follows:
Flipped learning is a framework that enables educators to reach every student. The Flipped
approach inverts the traditional classroom model by introducing course concepts before
class, allowing educators to use class time to guide each student through active, practical,
innovative application of the course principles
(https://www.flglobal.org/international_definition).
The flipped classroom is a blended learning type, combining face-to-face
teaching with asynchronous one. Based on constructivist theory, flipped teaching is a
student-centred instruction, putting the teacher as the facilitator of the experiential
learning process, allowing class time for active learning (Doi, 2016).
In this framework, in pre-class activities, students put most of their effort into

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the lower levels of revised Bloom’s taxonomy (levels: remembering and understanding).
They can watch the educational digital material, which the teacher uploads to the
Learning Management System. They can re-watch, pause, rewind, and review it as many
times as needed, following their own learning pace and without the pressure of the
classroom atmosphere. Consequently, active and creative activities in groups, which are
held in class, focus on the upper level of taxonomy (levels: applying, analysing,
evaluating, and creating). As a result, a lesson is extended, as it begins out of the class,
and the time is sufficient for all levels of Bloom’s taxonomy objectives to be achieved
(Anderson et al., 2001).
Setting all the above elements from theory into practice, several factors are
fundamental for its success, which are presented in the acronym F.L.I.P. (Goksu & Duran,
2020):
● F for a flexible environment, in which flexible environments have small individual
and group work areas so that most of their class time is dedicated to cultivating
skills through more problem-based learning exercises.
● L for a learning culture where students actively engage with knowledge application
and reconstruction.
● I for intentional content of pre-class educational material and in-class activities.
The content is intentionally tailored to pursue the lesson’s aims and is suitable for
every student's learning style.
● P for Professional Educator who implements the approach and can organise the
lesson following its main principles. They can also be open to new ideas and
innovations to enrich everyday teaching practices.
Doi (2016) states that many teachers apply the flipped classroom due to “its
flexibility, responsiveness, and effectiveness for information literacy instruction” (p.114).
In more detail, Bergmann and Sam’s assumptions about the advantages of its
implementation (2012, pp. 19-33) are still up to date:
1- Flipping speaks the language of today’s students: Today’s students grew up with
Internet access, YouTube, Facebook, Myspace, and a host of other digital
resources. Therefore, teachers should infiltrate the video/digital culture instead of
fighting it. They should embrace digital learning and use it to help the students
instead of telling them they cannot learn with today’s tools.
2- Flipping helps busy students: Students today are busy. Many are over-
programmed, going from one event to the next, so they need the flexibility of the
flipped classroom.
3- Flipping helps struggling students: Teachers can spend most of their classroom
time assisting those students who struggle most.
4- Flipping helps students of all abilities to excel: All direct instruction is recorded,
and students with special needs can watch the videos as often as they need to learn
the material.
5- Flipping allows students to pause and rewind their teacher: Flipping the classroom
gives the students control of courses so that students appreciate the pause function
for different reasons, such as slow or fast learning.
6- Flipping increases student-teacher interaction: Flipping allows teachers to
leverage technology to increase student interaction.
7- Flipping allows teachers to know their students better: Flipping allows teachers to
build better relationships with our students due to increased teacher-student
interaction.
8- Flipping increases student-student interaction: Teachers can purposely try to make

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their classes places where students carry out meaningful activities instead of
completing busy work so that they can create a culture of learning.
9- Flipping allows for real differentiation: Flipping the class can show how needy
many students are since teachers can personalise all learning.
10- Flipping changes classroom management: Since teachers do not just stand up and
speak to students, all school administration issues disappear.
11- Flipping changes how teachers talk to parents: Flipped classrooms are shifting the
emphasis to a place where parents can consider how their children can enhance
learning.
12- Flipping educates parents: Many parents watch alongside their children and learn.
13- Flipping makes the class transparent: Flipping opens the doors to our classrooms
and allows the public to come in.
Flipped classroom and music education
Although many teachers worldwide integrate the flipped classroom approach in
various cognitive domains, the research in music education is limited. However, its
benefits and limitations are presented in the following selected research.
Four music educators, P. Duker, A. Gawboy, B. Hughes, and K. Shaffer,
implemented three teaching tools -the standard-based grading (SBG), just-in-time
teaching (JiTT) and inverted classroom- in Music Theory at Ohio State University,
Charleston Southern University, the University of Miami, and the University of Delaware
in 2012. They aimed to “strengthen curricula, increase the impact that an instructor can
have on undergraduate theory students, and in some cases reduce the amount of time an
instructor must devote to achieving that impact” (Duker et al., 2015, p. 1). Short videos
(5-10 min.) replaced the lecture about Music Theory, and in-class collaborative learning
activities, such as composition, aural analysis, and performances, took place on multiple
levels so that all students could participate according to their pace. By extending the
activities following their needs, they had control of their learning and procedure,
cultivating metacognitive skills. For example, slower students continued their work
taking the teacher’s support, and the more fluent ones could transition to higher-level
tasks. All the above activities reinforced the development of students’ musicianship.
As a supplement teaching tool in student-centred learning for music ensembles,
the flipped classroom enriched the CCC concept (Curious, Collaborative, Creativity) at
the State University of New York-Potsdam. The aims focused on students’ more profound
and meaningful musical experiences, independent learning, and maintenance of long
musicianship, encouraging curiosity via repertoire selection, promoting collaboration,
and sharing their music creations (Gilbert, 2016). The flipped classroom implementation
emerged with the following issues (Gilbert, 2016, pp. 32,33):
● Much time is needed for behind-the-scenes work to mentor student conductors,
coach student composers, and ensure students have access to the materials they
need to bring their ideas to life.
● Allocating time in rehearsals for student contributions can benefit the ensemble
and promote more advanced music-making.
● It may help directors reach goals more quickly than instruction solely delivered in
traditional formats.
● Students demonstrate more substantial musical knowledge, increased
participation, and a deeper level of enjoyment.
Teaching the history of Western art music is a subject in which lecture is
essential during instruction. Art Brownlow, a music teacher at The University of Texas
Rio Grande Valley, focused on objectives such as learning the historical, aesthetic,

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cultural and philosophical framework of music history, understanding how that
information relates to musical compositions and using the appropriate methodological
tools of scholarly inquiry through some research project. The time for applying all the
above was limited, as the lecture was in the middle of the lesson. He decided to implement
flipped classroom to bring more creative activities into the class and allow students to
apply their knowledge. He prepared online lectures and offered extra material to his
students according to the topic (e.g., guides, translations of vocal texts, book chapters,
journal articles, opera librettos and synopses, films of operas, ballets or orchestral
concerts, or interviews with composers and performers). The lesson in the class started
with pre-prepared questions, which stimulated the discussion or material clarification.
Then, students collaborated in groups of four or five and analysed specific musical pieces.
The use of the iPads was critical as they annotated all parts of the score. Then, every
group presented its efforts and listened to the musical piece at the end of the lesson.
Brownlow (2017) realised he was more engaged throughout the course as he circulated
from group to group, answering questions and guiding the process. He noticed, "I am not
just learning the information to pass the class. I feel like I will carry this information with
me in the real world” (Brownlow, 2017, p. 6).
The flipped classroom was selected as an appropriate approach for teaching cello
to keep practising on students’ instruments during the mid-term break, spending the
holiday performing effectively according to the video instructions and information for a
new music piece (Akbel, 2018). The qualitative research, designed by the Turkish Music
Conservatory of Yildirim Beyazit University, was held in 2017-2018 and aimed to receive
three students’ and three instructors’ opinions from different conservatories and
universities on the feasibility of flipped learning model for cello education in Turkish
music. The effects of flipped learning on students’ success in right-hand-left-hand
techniques on the cello, rhythms, maqam transitions, nuance signs, musical interpretation,
fluency, and performance of Turkish Music pitches on the cello were examined. The
semi-structured interview analysis showed, among others, that:
● Students used the tutorial video effectively, identifying their flaws and correcting
mistakes during the practice class. The most considerable progress was reported in
fluency and musical interpretation, but no significant progress in producing clean
Turkish music pitches.
● Students agreed that the tutorial video organised their study better, watching and
re-watching specific details of the music piece.
● All instructors highlighted that students performed much better after
implementing the flipped classroom.
Implementing the flipped classroom in Primary and Secondary Education
in Greece
The school year 2021-2022, a year at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, but still,
with some restrictions, found music teachers and students tired of long-distance learning
but eager to participate in and organise creative musical activities. Most students had
access to the Internet and the appropriate technological supplies and were familiar with a
Learning Management System. These conditions were considered sufficient for the
flipped classroom implementation in Greek schools.
The following applications occurred in face-to-face instruction and with the
Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. The aims were to explore the following questions:
1. Is the music lessons content suitable for the flipped classroom application?
2. What are the obstacles and limitations of its approach?

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3. To what extent does music instruction in class focus on the higher levels of
Bloom’s Taxonomy?
4. How do pupils/students respond?
Music teachers implemented flipped classroom, selecting the topic appropriate
to their pupils/students in any period of the year. They taught Music once a week,
according to the official primary and secondary education programme. They filled out an
observation form based on the four pillars of the flipped classroom and reflective diaries
and participated in semi-structured interviews before and after the implementation. They
are all experienced music teachers interested in enriching their teaching with innovative
approaches. Singing, music appreciation, performance and music theory in a creative and
collaborative context are the main parts of their music lesson plans.
In the pre-class phase, they used E-Class and Teams Microsoft platforms with
which both teachers and pupils/students were already familiar since distance learning and
teaching. The lessons' structure and framework in primary [6th Grade and during a project
at the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP) framework] and in
secondary education (2nd Grade of Junior high school) are presented in the following
section.
Teaching songs in the 6th Grade (primary education): one step ahead
Two significant events influenced the topic selection of the flipped classroom
implementation: a) the death of the eminent Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis (1925-
2021), whose life and works inspired the whole world, and b) the coming of Christmas.
Mikis Theodorakis's lesson occurred at the beginning of the school year, after
the summer break. The song “Βάρκα στο γιαλό” (Varka sto yalo /Boat by the shore, lyrics
by M. Theodorakis) was selected as its content is associated with summer, and we can
recognise basic musical characteristics, such as solo, chorus and a melody motif.
In the lesson, pupils would:
● develop listening, performing, and creating skills,
● collaborate and interact with each other musically,
● feel capable of playing a musical instrument,
● feel capable of composing on a musical instrument,
● analyse the parts of a musical piece,
● discriminate the antecedent and consequent phrases aurally.
During the pre-class phase, pupils had to watch a video of the song “Βάρκα στο
γιαλό” (Varka sto yalo / Boat by the shore, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW2-
KyMHocE). Listening to the song introduced pupils to its melody and strengthened their
auditory memory (first level of revised Bloom’s taxonomy). This knowledge encouraged
them to actively participate in music performances and creative activities during the in-
class phase, which contained three types of musical activity:
a) Listening and performing music in groups:
Pupils listened to the chorus of the song “Βάρκα στο γιαλό” played by a glockenspiel,
sang the corresponding lyrics, and then sang and said the note names of its musical
phrases reading the following non-conventional score, apart from the underlined bold
notes that represent half notes and the underlined notes that represent quarter notes, the
others are sung as eighth notes:
1. Do
Do

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Si
La
Sol
2.Fa
Fa
Mi
Re
Do
3.Do
Do
Si
La
Sol Sol
4.Fa
Fa
Mi
Re
Do
The music teacher indicated the repeated melodic and rhythmic pattern,
introducing the definition of the term music pattern. Then, the teacher played and
repeated the sequence of the two phrases on the glockenspiel and asked pupils to
discriminate which sequence gives the impression of an end (perfect cadence) or of
continuity (half cadence) (Bloom’s taxonomy levels: remember and understand):
1st phrase: do do si la sol – fa fa mi re do
2nd phrase: do do si la sol sol – fa fa mi re do
b) Performance activity (glockenspiel):
Pupils in pairs - each one had its own glockenspiel - played the chorus melody,
consisting of two phrases, the first being a call and the second as a response:
do do si la sol (call) – fa fa mi re do (response)
do do si la sol sol (call) – fa fa mi re do (response).
During this activity, pupils taught, learned, and evaluated one another with
limited teacher intervention (Bloom’s taxonomy levels: apply, analyse, evaluate and

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create).
c) Music making in collaboration:
Pupils worked in pairs. Every member improvised a short melody on its
glockenspiel as a call (notes: do si la and sol) and the other as a response (notes: fa mi re
do). One by one, they played in sequence, interacting and communicating with each other.
Due to the flipped classroom implementation, pupils were involved in more
creative musical activities during lesson time. In conventional teaching, two lessons
would be necessary for these activities, and as a result, some pupils would lose their
interest and enthusiasm, seeking something new and different. Simultaneously, the music
lesson in the flipped classroom starts from pre-class. In other words, pupils are one step
ahead when they enter the classroom. The music teacher has the time and opportunity to
reach every level of Bloom’s taxonomy and to structure a completed music lesson.
The pupils' favourite Christmas song, “Jingle Bells”, was taught before the
school break. The music teacher selected a body percussion challenge so that pupils
would:
● develop listening, performing, and creating music skills,
● collaborate and interact with one another,
● revise complex rhythmic patterns emphasising on rythme patterns (downbeat
and upbeat discrimination) and
● improvise their rhythmic patterns using both singing and body percussion.
During phase 1 (pre-class), pupils watched at home the YouTube video “Lesson
21 -Body Percussion/ Jingle bells challenge” (https://youtu.be/n4L93OydVVM). By
drilling and practising with body percussion, the rhythmic accompaniment shown in the
video, they followed their own pace according to their psychomotor skills. This activity
is significant for strengthening the self-confidence of pupils who have difficulties in
coordination and need more practice time to follow their classmates. Then, during phase
2 (in class), a group performance of body percussion took place alongside the video.
Pupils who had not watched the video needed more time to learn and practice, so they
found difficulties in following their classmates. Afterwards, pupils improvised their
rhythmic patterns in groups of five, hitting their desks or chairs with pencils as mallows
(chair/desk drumming). All pupils performed the video’s rhythmic patterns, according to
their capabilities, when they felt confident and “safe” to do it.
The flipped classroom proved to be a teaching approach which provides multiple
learning and teaching benefits, encouraging the further engagement of the pupils with
music videos and tutorials. Even with digital music applications on the internet, pupils
seemed to achieve a lifelong involvement and relation in music. In the months after the
implementation, they looked for videos and material on the internet according to their
musical preferences, keeping the touch with the lesson outside of school time.
The IB - PYP project “My Theodorakis” in the 5th Grade (primary education)
The flipped classroom teaching approach was implemented in the International
Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Years Program (PYP) framework. Pupils of the 5th Grade
(primary education) participated in a 3-month interdisciplinary project on the life and
works of the eminent Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis (1925-2021). Pupils worked in
groups on sub-topics and activities which aimed to cultivate all types of intelligence
(Gardner’s theory). Because of the project duration, there was enough time for all
suggested topics to be covered.
Teams Microsoft was the platform where the teacher and pupils found the
educational material, an e-book about the composer and uploaded a part of their
homework

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(https://read.bookcreator.com/QdUw3e8AJ3TzWL8npVJTiDnHBiJ3/CQ7om_PYQvC
KLRO09kV3IA).
The project related to the music curriculum and pupils aimed to:
● discriminate Greek song genres,
● understand the relationship between music and poetry,
● perform and sing these songs,
● connect the role of music with the most important historical events in modern
Greek history,
● realise the connection between the musical genres and their social functions and
● develop an attitude about the variety and historical continuity of Greek singing.
Pupils’ previous knowledge concerned the connection between poetry and
music, singing Theodorakis’s songs, such as “Ένα το χελιδόνι” (Ena to chelidoni / A
single swallow: O. Elytis), “Ο Λεβέντης” (O Leventis / The gallant, poem by N. Pergialis),
“Λίγο ακόμα” (Ligo akoma / Just a little more, poem by G. Seferis), «Το Γράμμα» (To
gramma / The letter, poem by M. Eleftheriou), and «Κουβέντα με ένα λουλούδι»
(Kouventa me ena louloudi / Talk with a flower, poem by Y. Ritsos).
Beginning from the school educational material about Music and Poetry, pupils
studied the educational material and chose one of the suggested sub-topics following their
preferences. During the pre-class phase, they also had to write a short report about the
selected topic (e.g., his childhood and youth, his first compositions, his first symphonic
works, his studies in Paris, music composition for movies, his exile and anti-dictatorship
music, etc.). Collaborative activities took place by pupils with the same sub-topics, and
they dealt with given questions. They had to work all together to organise their
presentation. The music teacher encouraged pupils’ work, answered questions, and
intervened when needed. There was enough time for participating in activities which
belong to the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, such as problem-solving, making
decisions, discussion, and reflection. They could also read again, analyse and evaluate
the educational material and their assignments with the other group members. Even if the
lessons were once a week, they confidently and safely organised their presentation
enthusiastically. Although this possibility to select the topics according to their preference
left some sub-topics unnegotiated, the music teacher found that an exciting topic
motivated pupils to deal with material that was attractive to them. The results and their
hard work confirmed the importance of this decision.
Implementing the flipped classroom proved an effective teaching approach for
projects. Pupils self-regulated their learning during the pre-class time and worked under
the teacher’s supervision, supporting and motivating them (in-class phase). At the same
time, absent pupils were smoothly incorporated into the activities due to their possibility
to catch up from the Learning Management System. The flipped classroom was beneficial
for pupils, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions, as it offered more
time for cooperation and communication, which pupils needed more than ever. At the
same time, teachers and pupils can collaborate equally, pursuing the same aims.
Flipped classroom or “flipped teacher”: implementation in a Junior High School
The music and culture of Japan was the topic on which flipped classroom was
implemented. The topic refers to the title of the student’s music textbook, “The land of
the Rising Sun”. The aims of the lesson were for students to:
● recognise the basic music features of Japanese music,
● discriminate the differences between the pentatonic and major scales aurally,
● sing a short composition in a pentatonic scale accurately,
● write down their musical ideas using an unconventional score,

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● learn about Haiku, a typical style of Japanese poetry,
● create their own Haiku and compose a pentatonic melody for it,
● cooperate in small groups and
● share their creations with the other classmates.
The pre-class educational material was based on the student’s textbook. The
video (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jcTPzOLyyp65jfh3hFYWwiwJyk7ALeIf/view)
contained some information and audio-visual musical examples of the Japanese tradition,
similarities with other musical cultures, interconnection of arts, the most representative
musical instruments (such as shakuhachi, koto, samisen, taiko), the Kabuki and No
Theatre and Haiku (theoretical approach). Students were involved in a series of creative
activities during the in-class time. They sang a Haiku composed in pentatonic reading the
music notation, and they invented their own Haiku in groups based on its main features.
Then, they composed a pentatonic musical phrase and wrote it down on a colour graphic
score, and they sang and performed it, playing recorders’ accompaniment. In the end,
they reflected on their musical creations.
Students participated in all activities, which motivated them and kept their
interest. The higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy were covered in all the above tasks, and
students could ask for the teacher’s support at all stages. The class atmosphere was warm,
and the relations among students were excellent, even if there were 26 students, 4 of them
with learning difficulties.
One of the disadvantages of implementing the flipped classroom is the restricted
access of some students to technology (internet access, non-affordable for P/C or tablets,
etc.). However, this implementation found difficulties when students had to watch and
study the educational material as they were tired of distance learning during the pandemic.
Any association with any form of distance learning made them hostile. In addition,
students needed some lessons to understand the advantages of the flipped classroom,
especially the pre-class phase, when students had “homework” in music lessons that
surprised them as they never had.
Compared to the traditional teaching method, the flipped classroom offered the
possibility to include more musical activities in class. More than lesson time is needed to
cover various issues and creative activities simultaneously. Nevertheless, the flipped
classroom extends lesson time from home (pre-class), and students who have already
watched the educational digital material are prepared to participate in creative activities.
Conclusions
The implementation referred to above and the observation keys according to the
pillars of the flipped classroom state that this teaching approach is feasible to be applied
in primary and secondary education in Music lessons and demonstrates its advantages for
pupils/students and music teachers. The transmission from a specific and safe teaching
approach to another breaks previous teaching habits and gradually adopts new ones,
changing the role of the teacher. This change does not refer only to the lesson and digital
educational material preparation but to the active role in the class. A role that brings the
teacher closer to students, recognises their needs, hears their inner voice, and deploys
them in the lesson. Jia (2019) states:
Flipped classroom also redefines the roles of teachers and students. Teachers completely
dominate the classroom's main position, change it to students in the main position, and
transfer the initiative of learning from teachers to students. In this role change, teachers
should first lower their attitude, take the initiative to understand the real ideas of students
and get close to their daily life (p. 564).

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Pupils' and students’ involvement in more creative activities was beneficial,
especially after the Covid-19 pandemic and its restrictions. As Karakaya et al. (2021)
research showed that “the COVID-19 pandemic process has social and psychological
effects on students… [such as] boredom, decreased sense of belonging to the school, lack
of interaction, loss of motivation and digital dependency” (p. 25). The flipped classroom
offered more time for cooperation and communication, which pupils/students needed
more than ever.
Although distance learning due to the pandemic changed the time we spend in
front of the screens, the flipped classroom is not a way of incorporating technology into
education. The “Flipped Learning Network” board members Aaron Sams, Jon Bergmann,
Kristin Daniels, Brian Bennett, Helaine W. Marshall, and Kari M. Arfstrom (2014)
mention that many teachers may flip their classes, but having students read text outside
of class, watch a supplemental video, or solve an additional problem is not enough
(Flipped Learning Network, 2014). During the above music lessons, students cultivate
their skills in good digital learning behaviours (Fisher et al., 2017). Furthermore, the
technology “encourages constructive learning by providing active learning through
interaction between students and teachers” (Goksu & Duran, 2020, p. 119). Creative and
collaborative activities took the central part of the lessons. The teachers allowed time to
help and motivate students (Abeysekera & Dawson, 2014), deepening the lesson's content
and building their confidence (Duker et al., 2015). In this framework, the lesson had
started since pre-class and activities based on upper Bloom’s taxonomy levels took place.
Although not all students were one step ahead, as they had not watched the digital
educational material in the pre-class phase, they tried to catch up in the class.
In the literature review, we can find many implementations of the flipped
classroom in various cognitive subjects. Especially in Music, the flipped classroom puts
theory into practice and extends the lesson’s duration, starting with pre-class activities; it
allows students to collaborate, express themselves, and create and offers possibilities for
a deeper lifelong relationship with music (Duker et al., 2015; Doi, 2016; Gilbert, 2016;
Akbel, 2018; Jia, 2019). Even during a single lesson or a more extended project, it can
widen students’ horizons and give them the tools to follow their interests and preferences.
Although it takes time for teachers to prepare the digital educational material initially,
Brownlow (2017) admits that the results are worth the effort.
Fisher et al. (2017) claim that the flipped classroom, like any model of teaching
and learning, is better suited for some teachers and students than others. Nevertheless,
students’ way of learning is changing generation by generation, and “deeper habits and
beliefs must be overcome” (Goksu & Duran, 2020, p. 113). Teachers and pupils/ students
must perceive that this transition is valuable for both sides and that they can enjoy the
new instructional journey.
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